ARG/November 2019-Ongoing
← Previous (July-October 2019) November 3, 2019 Sabocup continued. The first match of the day involved speedrunners Kuningas and Ischbinder in an Any% category race, with Minous and Soleil as commentators. The Shopkeeper dropped by once again to offer some comments in the Twitch chat. The commentators explained the lore relating to Soldier's death and how it would have been preventable if Ninja had sent Quarble within 10 seconds of the death. After hearing that explanation, Nufakas expressed regret for failing to meet The Shopkeeper's expectations. The Shopkeeper forgave her. Soleil pointed out that the real Shopkeeper had arrived in the Twitch chat. As Kuningas explored the Sunken Shrine, Minous talked about how the location was one of his least favorite levels in the game. The Shopkeeper revealed her plans to add a Shopkeeper story to the Sunken Shrine after the conclusion of Sabocup. As Kuningas backtracked through Bamboo Creek, Minous fulfilled his promise to sing the official lyrics of Bamboo Creek. He was welcomed by a standing ovation for his singing performance. November 4, 2019 Sabocup continued, and Thierry's casual Linear runthrough was streamed, to serve as the benchmark time to beat for the casual prize pool. It was encouraged for the viewers to ask Thierry many questions about the game in order to distract him from his runthrough and to make the benchmark easier to clear for casual players. During his runthrough, Thierry addressed a few ambiguities related to the ARG. Power to the Player Thierry explained that the ARG is shaped by the players. He was concerned that perhaps that those participating in the ARG were not aware that their actions mattered and had real consequences to the ARG. So he reaffirmed that players' choices in the ARG do have an impact. He also explained that the community's interest in the ARG is what drives it to continue moving forward. Books from The Archives Thierry referred back to the voting event from February 4, 2019, in which players were given an opportunity by The Archivist to see an excerpt from one of three books (NINJA/THE ALCHEMIST/BARMA'THAZEL). There was also a secret fourth voting option, which if selected, would have allowed players to see the title of the next video game way ahead of time. During that vote, the majority of players voted for the "NINJA" book and so received an excerpt from it. Thierry gave more information about the information residing in the unselected books, and the big lore tidbit of the "NINJA" book that had gone unnoticed. "THE ALCHEMIST" Book Thierry explained that choosing "THE ALCHEMIST" book would have revealed The Archivist's name. "BARMA'THAZEL" Book During the ARG, small hints related to Barma'thazël's special power were given. * Barma'thazël had a special power before he lost an eye. * A person with 6 letters in their name disabled Barma'thazël's special power. * The last Messenger before The Bowman was petrified by Barma'thazël. Thierry confirmed that The Bowman was the one to shoot an arrow to take out Barma'thazël's eye. If the "BARMA'THAZEL" book was chosen, that's when this lore tidbit would have been revealed. "NINJA" Book Thierry explained that although each choice relating to the book vote would have revealed something impactful, the "NINJA" book, in a way, was the "correct" choice, as it contributes to the "bigger picture" at hand. The presented excerpt from the "NINJA" book describes Ninja within Howling Grotto, with the final sentence stating "AS HE WOULD EVENTUALLY FIND OUT, RIGHT BELOW HIM LAY" before the excerpt cuts off. This was actually a hint related to how Ninja had no idea how important something right below him was, that being the Sunken Shrine. The reason why The Archivist wanted to introduce players to the world via The Messenger as the first game was because he visited the Sunken Shrine. The Sunken Shrine along with the Corrupted Future are the two main elements he wanted players to focus on. Sunken Shrine There is an empty room to the right of Sunken Shrine. Something was meant to be inside that room but was cut from the final version of the game. Thierry hinted that, if the ARG plays out properly, the community may end up seeing what this would have been. Aephorul A viewer asked about Aephorul's identity, but Thierry stated that The Archivist spoiled this one already. Thierry continued on to say that it involves some dark stuff so it wouldn't be appropriate to discuss it, opting to skip the question. Book 2 Sabotage Studio received Book 1 from The Archivist, which was translated into Sabotage Studio's first video game, The Messenger. Thierry revealed that Sabotage has received Book 2 from The Archivist, and it's thicker than Book 1. November 7, 2019 (Discord) The Clockwork Concierge gave Kammesennin another scroll to deliver to the community, "Archivist_Scroll_3.png." This initial document contained a typo, so a new scroll named "Actual_Archivist-Scroll_3.png" was delivered shortly afterwards. November 7, 2019 (Twitch) Sabocup continued. The Linear NG+ semi-finals between Breadpan and Kammesennin commenced, with Kasayev as the commentator. As the two racers simultaneously approached the Leaf Monster boss fight, Kammesennin entered the shop in order to grab the Windmill Shuriken, but Breadpan surprisingly did not. Because Breadpan had the normal Energy Shuriken instead of the Windmill Shuriken, he was unable to 1-cycle the boss fight, and Kammesennin took the lead in the race. Dagem asked The Shopkeeper about the "ultimate pen," in reference to the second-to-last line of Archivist Scroll 3 in which it stated "THE SHOPKEEPER'S PENULTIMATE APPEARANCE DRAWS NEAR." As the two racers made their way through Bamboo Creek, Kyleberry asked The Shopkeeper on her opinion about Chinese food (in reference to Bamboo Creek's official lyrics). The Shopkeeper revealed that she secretly likes Chinese food. Kyleberry assumed that The Shopkeeper would be retiring, and Soleil bade her farewell. The Shopkeeper replied that she did not plan on permanently leaving. Kyleberry apologized for his lack of shopping. The Shopkeeper told him not to worry about it. Kammesennin defeated the Arcane Golem, yielding an exclamation from The Shopkeeper. Kammesennin completed his Linear runthrough, winning the first race of the set. In standard fashion, members in the Twitch chat commented "GG" (good game) to congratulate the completion of the runthrough. November 15, 2019 The community gathered a total of 7,500 Time Shards, which was enough to afford the final shop upgrade (Beach Oracle). However, despite November 15 being a Friday, The Shopkeeper did not make an appearance. November 16, 2019 Spiderbenb asked when the community should expect the next arrival of The Shopkeeper. November 21, 2019 The Clockwork Concierge announced that the 6th opening of the shop would occur November 22. November 22, 2019 The 6th opening of #the-shop text channel arrived. Vitto won The Shopkeeper's challenge and was selected to be "The Messenger." He participated in the third and final chapter of the text adventure and purchased the only available upgrade in the talent tree, "Beach Oracle" (second live Sabotage Q&A). After Vitto left, Rainbowdragoneyes entered the shop and showed off a preview of a unique music track for Queen of Quills. November 24, 2019 Note: The original text chat log for the Twitch stream was erased, so there is some paraphrasing in replacement of actual chat messages. The final match of Sabocup commenced, an Any% category + Picnic Panic speedrun between TwoCPlus and kasayev. The Shopkeeper dropped by to watch the event. She arrived somewhat late, around the time that the speedrunners were in Glacial Peak. Someone asked The Shopkeeper what flavor popcorn she was eating. Five minutes passed, and The Shopkeeper continued to enjoy eating her popcorn. As the speedrunners watched the Soldier cutscene, a few chat members blamed The Shopkeeper for Soldier's death. Someone asked how The Shopkeeper was doing. pupatree asked The Shopkeeper a personal question related to The Iron Hood. Justin asked The Shopkeeper about a game-related glitch involving the "6" key with the PC version of The Messenger. The Shopkeeper directed him to talk to game programmer, Sabout. Someone asked The Shopkeeper if she had any stories to share. Gooberbarbarian asked The Shopkeeper about speedrunning. Someone mentioned something along the lines of, "everybody asks who is Shopkeeper but nobody asks how is Shopkeeper." Someone else followed with something along the lines of, "when is Shopkeeper." Shopkeeper agreed to the "when" statement with a caret. Gooberbarbarian asked The Shopkeeper about magical kitchen appliances. Stéphanie worried that The Shopkeeper was lonely since the speedrunners were doing such brief shop visits, but The Shopkeeper assured her that she preferred doing less work. TwoCPlus and kasayev finished the Picnic Panic portion of the speedrun, marking the conclusion of Sabocup. Heartwarming words were spoken by the commentators, the speedrunners, and members in the Twitch chat, thanking Sabotage Studio for hosting Sabocup. The Shopkeeper responded in turn. ← Previous (July-October 2019) Category:ARG Category:Lore